Gordon wins sixth stage for Hummer

The fast, 394-km special, the longest of this year's rally so far, took Gordon nearly three hours to complete, the American scoring his third stage victory following his first two with Volkswagen in 2005.

With speeds of 190km/h reached during the stage, Gordon took full advantage of the characteristics of his Hummer to beat Frenchman Jean-Louise Schlesser by only 17 seconds.

The stage victory has allowed Gordon to climb up to 18th place in the standings, albeit nearly four hours behind leader Carlos Sainz, fourth today in the second of the Volkswagens.

The Spaniard lost 25 seconds to teammate Giniel de Villiers today after the South African came home in third position. Sainz still leads by over three minutes from last year's runner-up.

Eight-time Dakar winner Stefan Peterhansel was fifth in today's stage as his Mitsubishi team continued without a stage victory in this year's edition. The Frenchman finished nearly eight minutes behind Gordon and in front of BMW's Qatari driver Nasser Al Attiyah.

Last year's winner Luc Alphand was eighth in today's stage and he is now the highest ranked Mitsubishi in fourth position following the problems suffered by Spanish teammate Nani Roma.

The former rider, winner of the event in 2004, lost 28 minutes today and has dropped down to seventh in the overall standings behind Peterhansel and Schlesser.

The rally stays in Mauritania for tomorrow's mammoth 542-km special among tracks, off-road sections, and dunes.

Stage 6 classification:

Pos Driver        Make              Time
 1. Gordon        Hummer         2h58:57 
 2. Schlesser     Schlesser-Ford +  0.17  
 3. De Villiers   Volkswagen     +  6:52  
 4. Sainz         Volkswagen     +  7:17  
 5. Peterhansel   Mitsubishi     +  7:49  
 6. Al Attiyah    BMW            +  8:24  
 7. Sousa         Volkswagen     + 10:03  
 8. Alphand       Mitsubishi     + 10:45  
 9. Miller        Volkswagen     + 12:38  
10. Holowczyc     Nissan         + 19:43 

Overall standings after stage 6:

Pos Driver           Make                 Time
 1. Sainz            Volkswagen       16h00:04
 2. De Villiers      Volkswagen      +    3:11
 3. Sousa            Volkswagen      +   14:17
 4. Alphand          Mitsubishi      +   23:55
 5. Peterhansel      Mitsubishi      +   25:03
 6. Schlesser        Schlesser-Ford  +   28:50
 7. Roma             Mitsubishi      +   37:31
 8. Miller           Volkswagen      +   54:53
 9. Masuoka          Mitsubishi      + 1h04:23
10. Al Attiyah       BMW             + 1h13:32